N, strauchii breeding

I am no expert, in fact this is my first go with any caudates. :D But from what I have read, breeding N. strauchii is very much dependent upon temperature. I did not take mine down to 10C or so like I have read. Mine are kept in a cool room in the basement. I live in a climate that is cold from December to mid March or so. I think the coldest the water temp has gotten is about 14C. I keep them aquatic all year. There is no extra lighting on them. They get indirect light from the window. There water temp now is around 15-15.5C. They seem happy and content, and are laying lots of eggs. :happy:
 
eljorgo said:
Well... Obviouly yes? Temperature is the motor for caudate breeding...
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Temperature is important, but it can be in many forms, like 'just' a hybernation period or apparently like strauchii a 'max' laying temperature. But the fact that they are not showing any breeding interest can be só many things, light, current etc.

I'll try to lower the temperature some way (don't have a basement I can put them in) and see if sòmething happens.

Besides axolotls, who seem to breed without any effort I have no experience in breeding, so not everything is a given for me. This year some of my species are old enough to breed, so this year is really my first attempt at any newt breeding.
 
Unlike axolotls, N. strauchii have very specific temperature requirements. This was the consensus of several of us who put our collective experience together a few years ago (data were compiled, but not published). If you cannot get them down to (or below) 10C/50F, you are very unlikely to ever have any strauchii offspring.
 
Given the above information provided by Jen, I feel very lucky to have any eggs. Even more so to have them developing. I took a few pictures today. They are changing shape. Very exciting. These are some laid some time last week.

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Jennewt said:
Unlike axolotls, N. strauchii have very specific temperature requirements. This was the consensus of several of us who put our collective experience together a few years ago (data were compiled, but not published). If you cannot get them down to (or below) 10C/50F, you are very unlikely to ever have any strauchii offspring.
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I know axolotls are an exception when it comes to breeding, it's interesting that N. strauchii has a max temperature to breed. I'm wasn't planning on breeding them this year, because I want them to grow a bit more.
It is a good motivation for me to speed up my tank cooling experiment a bit more so I can give it a go next year. (and for the summer, naturally)

Is there a reason that the temperature info hasn't been published yet?

@Tim

Great pictures!
 
damien said:
Is there a reason that the temperature info hasn't been published yet?
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The consensus of the "working group" was included and referenced in the CC strauchii sheet:
Caudata Culture Species Entry - Neurergus strauchii
In terms of a publication, it would be incredibly difficult. Although we all turned in our breeding results for several years, the data are a mess, as each person collected their data in different ways. It would be difficult to publish, even as an online article. It's in the hands of Serge Bogaerts, it's up to him if it ever goes any further.
 
They move!!

Here are a couple of pictures of a few of the first weeks eggs. They move and have gills!! Maybe another week?? :happy:

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Congrats, Tim! :D
I can hardly await until they hatch. You must be very excited. :D
 
Jennewt said:
The consensus of the "working group" was included and referenced in the CC strauchii sheet:
Caudata Culture Species Entry - Neurergus strauchii
In terms of a publication, it would be incredibly difficult. Although we all turned in our breeding results for several years, the data are a mess, as each person collected their data in different ways. It would be difficult to publish, even as an online article. It's in the hands of Serge Bogaerts, it's up to him if it ever goes any further.
Click to expand...

Why did I read this just now? I saw him yesterday :D
 
An update. I have had several hatch and seem to be doing fine. I am not sure I have seen them eat yet, but I am sure that will come. They are nearly impossible to photograph at this size, but I will try in the next few days. It is a very exciting time here!
 
Hi Tim,

They are looking so nice. :D
But may I trust my eyes - do they have already front legs, when hatching?

Greetz, Tina
 
Lovely!
I think the larva with front legs is a little bit older, am i right? The one who is half covered looks much more like a recent hatchling.

Keep up the good work!
 
Yes they are definitely front legs. As for age, they are a week or less old. It seems they all hatch with the front legs, but I will get out the hand lens and check. There are a few that have hatched smaller with a much larger yolk sac. They may not have the front legs.
Thanks for all the nice comments. I am so pleased with them.
 
maybe they hatch at different development stages like Cynops orientalis?
 
awesome. Congratulations. What a spectacular species this is. Are the larvae more difficult to raise than other newt species?
 
I have never raised any other larvae so I can't answer. However, these don't seem hard to raise. They are off to a great start. I will get photos later today of them with bellies full of baby brine shrimp. They glow orange!!
 
Nice going, Tim! I would say the larvae are easier than most other species. The eggs and larvae are relatively large. And yes, they usually do hatch with front legs already developed. They hatch large enough to start eating small daphnia, small whiteworms or chopped blackworms.

The other good thing is that they don't seem to go through a cannibalistic stage. I've never seen a nipped limb, even in groups with widely varying sizes of larvae. Then again, I've never underfed them for any significant amount of time; it might happen if they got hungry enough.
 
Here are the promised photos. They love the baby brine shrimp (BBS). I tried chopped black worms, but they didn't seem to go for them. I will try again now that they are a bit bigger. I am also going to mix some frozen daphnia in with the BBS and get them eating that too. They are so fun to watch. If one takes off and bumps in to another then it starts a chain reaction and all of them are off and moving.

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